What is antimalware software and how do you benefit from using it?

The term ‘malware’ denotes potentially harmful software that is created and used for infesting computers and further exploiting them in different ways. This generic notion encompasses a vast set of cyber infections, ranging from such relatively simple and tiny bearers of malicious code as trojans or worms – all the way to more complex parasites like spyware, rogue antivirus software, counterfeit system optimization tools, keyloggers etc. Hence the concept of antimalware software is all about fighting this broad list of unwanted applications and thus protecting users against their maleficent impact.

Since it may take somewhat different approaches and techniques to deal with each group of malignant software, modern antimalware programs are inherently sophisticated to the bone – they simply have to match and exceed when it comes to effectiveness. The constantly growing challenges in the cyber security niche and the extensive spectrum of the must-provide features oblige them to successfully implement real-time defense against viruses, phishing prevention tactics, rootkit interception / deletion, adware blocking, spyware exposure / elimination, scareware removal etc.

What is more, not only must antimalware software keep pace with the latest and emerging trends in the badware world – it must be one step ahead and employ proactivity. That’s a hard nut to crack, and yet some software manufacturers are doing a great job overcoming this challenge.

Best Antimalware software review: evaluation criteria

To give you an advantage over the ubiquitous cyber criminals, we have reviewed the market’s renowned best antimalware software to figure out which ones are undoubtedly worth their salt. We looked for the well-balanced mix of malware detection and removal effectiveness, smooth performance, useful features and high-level client support. Here are the general criteria we took into account:

Usability: Technical complexity and simple user controls may turn out hard to combine. We picked the antimalware programs that best address this natural contradiction. The software GUI should be easy to navigate so you don’t have to roam in search of the essential options or go through a brain-twisting maze trying to find some custom tools. Moreover, resource hogs are not what we are looking for, so the lower the effect on the way your system operates, the higher grade an application gets in our chart. Of course, it also matters how simple and quick the installation process is. Possible software conflicting issues and false positives are on the list of things we consider significant for evaluating an antimalware solution as well.

Features: The scope of defense-related capabilities that the best antimalware products should have in store includes proactive real-time protection, behavioral analysis of processes, cloud-based security technology, configurable scanning, reliable quarantine, and possibly some online security measures. In terms of usage-oriented features, things like flexible scheduling options and game mode are strong arguments in favor of a specific application.

Efficiency: Protection starts with thoroughgoing preemptive measures against any intrusion from the outside: antimalware is supposed to draw a distinct frontier that no hazardous software can possibly trespass. If a product incorporates sufficient layers of defense blocking the external threats from accessing a PC, that’s a good starting point for choice-making.

Proper virus detection capability is another merit that deserves a special check mark. This is where heuristic malware detection comes into play, i.e. a technique based on identifying specific attributes of suspicious software and correlating them with the traits of known malware to label these objects potentially unsafe. This principle mostly applies to spotting new virus samples whose signatures are not included in the current antimalware database. The blend of heuristics and the ‘traditional’ detection of documented threats makes a product good enough to rely on.

Having detected the items that pose risk to a computer, the program is only half-way done. Completely deleting them is certainly a non-trivial and imperative constituent of the antimalware logic. Consequently, adequate quarantine measures and the ability to eradicate the bad stuff are some of the crucial factors refining our evaluation

Support: When using antimalware software, you want to feel you’re important to its manufacturer, and this is not some sort of an abstract concept. The support component must be just as tangible as the software itself. It means the help documentation should be there for you when you need it, and customer service reps should be ready to process your inquiry if you run into difficulties, the latter aspect implying diverse help channels, including phone, online chat, and query form to fill out. Active user forum, video tutorials, and searchable FAQs can give you a helping hand, too.

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